Frederick j



{No Model.)

F. J. MITCHELL,

DISINFEGTING APPARATUS.

No. 603,012. Patented Apr. 26, 1-898.

UNITED STATES Parent tries,

FREDERICK J. MITCHELL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DISINFECTING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 603,012, dated April 26, 1898. Application filed February 9 1897. Serial No. 622,696. (No model.)

To 6015 whom it may concern:

Be it known that LFREDERIOK J. MITCHELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city, county, and State of New York, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Disinfecting Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear,and exact description,

reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

The object of my invention is the provision of an apparatus for the supply of a suitable disinfecting liquid to closets, urinals, sinks, and the like in small predetermined quantities at suitable intervals, which are preferably determined by the frequency with which the closet or other apparatus is used.

To this end it consists in the apparatus and in the combination and arrangement of parts and details, the construction and operation of which I have herein shown and described and which I have specifically enumerated in the claims.

Referring to the drawings,Figure 1 is a front elevation of my device, partly in section; and Fig. 2 is an elevation, on a smaller scale, showing the manner in which the device is connected with the air-forcing apparatus.

Similar reference characters are employed to designate corresponding parts in both views.

The supply-reservoir A is of sufficient size to contain the requisite supply of disinfecting liquid and is provided with lugs a, by which it can be secured in proper position ata higher elevation than and preferably adjacent to the closet or other apparatus to which the liquid is to be delivered. The discharge-chamber B is secured to the lower part of the supplyreservoir A, and a pipe or duct 0 leads from the supply-reservoir to the bottom of the discharge-chamber, the two being connected by the small valveless opening D, whereby the liquid contained in the reservoir A will enter the chamber B, and so long as said reservoir contains any liquid the chamber will normally be kept filled. The chamber 13 is provided with a discharge-opening E, having a large area relative to the opening D. The liquid which flows from the chamberAinto the reservoirB will, through the opening E, enter the dischargeconduit F, and will obviously,under normal conditions, rise therein to the height at which the liquid stands in the chamber A.

In order to prevent a continuous discharge, which would empty the supply-chamber under normal conditions, the conduit F is carried above the top or at least above the liquidlevel of the chamber A, and, as shown, it opens intoa measuring-chamber G, which, as shown, is an internally-screw-threaded cup, in which is placed the threaded apertured plug g. This plug is provided with an aperture g, extending through the plug and sufliciently restricted in size to permit the liquid to flow through it at a very slow rate. This measuring-chamber G is fully shown and described and claimed in my pending application for United States Letters Patent No. 603,130, filed August 18, 1896, and therefore I make no claim therefor in this application. The position of the plug g may be varied in said chamber by simply screwing it up and down, so that the space above the plug may be increased or diminished at will. The discharge-conduit F is connected with the lower partof the chamber G below the plug 9 and is extended directly to the point at which it is desired to supply the disinfectant-as, forinstance, into the interior of a closet-bowl. At the top of the chamber A is the cup H, which, as shown, serves the double purpose of an overflow-cup and a filling-funnel. The bottom of the cup is provided with an aperture h, so that any liquid entering the cup will flow into the chamber A. A tube I enters the upper part of the reservoir B. Any suitable form of airforcing or pneumatic discharge apparatus may be connected with this tube 1.

I have shown in Fig. 2 an air-forcin g device forming the subjectmatter of my United States Letters Patent No. 585,220, dated June 29, 1897. This air-forcing device consists of a cylinder 1, provided with a piston secured to the hollow piston-rod 2. The arm 3 is pivotally connected with the cylinder 1, and the opposite end of the arm 3 and the end of the piston-rod 2 are pivotallymou nted on brackets 4 and 5, respectively. The brackets a and 5 are secured to a suitable support, such as a door-jamb (3. A spring 7 is arranged to hold said arm and cylinder away from and at an angle to their support, so as to draw the piston toward the right-hand end of the cylinder. A post or arm 8 is secured to the door 9, so as to engage with the arm 3 when the door is being closed, thus carrying the cylinder and arm 3 toward their support. This forces the piston rapidly toward the opposite end of the cylinder, and the air contained in the cylinder is forcibly expelled through the hollow piston-rod 2, which extends entirely through the piston. The piston-rod 2 is provided with a hollow vent-tube, to which the air-tube I is connected. It will thus be seen that by the closing of the door 9 theair in the cylinder 1 will be forcibly expelled therefrom through the tube I into the reservoir B. The pressure thus created will force the liquid in the reservoir B through the opening E into the discharge-conduit F and will cause the liquid in said conduit to rise and flow through the opening in the side of the measuringchamber G, completely filling the same. The apparatus is preferably so arranged that considerably more liquid than is required to fill it will be delivered into the chamber G, and the surplus will flow into the overflow-cup II and enter the chamber A through the aperture h. From the chamber G the liquid will flow slowly through the aperture g into the conduit F and be thereby carried to the point of application.

By placing the opening D at or near the bottom of the chamber B, I am enabled to dispense entirely with a valve between said chamber and the reservoir A, and as the opening D is of much smaller area than the opening E substantially the whole force created by the discharge of the air-forcing device is utilized in forcing the liquid from said chamber through the discharge-conduit F into the measuring-chamber G, and by placing this opening at or near the bottom of the chamber B there will, so long as the supply-reservoir contains any liquid, always be between the opening D and the mouth of the pipe I a sufficient body of liquid to seal the opening and prevent the air discharged into the chamber from escaping through the opening into the supply-reservoir. I am thus enabled to dispense entirely with a valve to control communication through this opening, which is a great advantage, since any Valve that would Work automatically at this point would soon become clogged owing to the sticky nature of the liquid usually employed for disinfecting purposes, and any apparatus depending for its operation upon such a valve could not be used practically in disinfecting systems.

The advantages which I attain by the employment of pneumatic pressure for the delivery of liquidin the manner described are efficient, reliable, and practically silent action without any mechanical or moving connection between the liquid-holder and the pneumatic apparatus. I am also enabled thereby to locate the liquid-holder in any position and at any reasonable distance therefrom. This is a most important consideration in this class of work,which cannot be regarded where liquid is delivered by the operation of mechanical devices.

It will of course be understood that I do not confine my invention to the particular form of air-forcingdevice herein shown and described or to any particular means for putting the air-forcing device in operation, since any suitable means for creating the requisite pneumatic pressure in the reservoir B may be substituted therefor; nor do I claim herein the construction of the air-forcing device shown, because that is claimed in my said Letters Patent No. 585,220.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a disinfecting apparatus the combination of a supply-reservoir, a discharge-chamber at the bottom of said reservoir, a duct leading from said reservoir to the lower part of said chamber, a valveless opening between said duct and the bottom part of said chamber, a discharge-duct leading from the lower part of the discharge-chamber and an airforcing device connected with the upper part of the discharge-chamber, substantially as shown and described.

2. Ina disinfecting apparatus the combination of a supply-reservoir, a discharge-chamber at the bottom of said reservoir, a connection between said supply-reservoir and the lower part of the discharge-chamber, a measuring-chamber,a discharge-duct leading from the lower part of the discharge-chamber to said measuring-cham ber, a duct leading from the measuring-chamber to the point of application and an air-forcing device connected with the upper part of the discharge-chamber,whereby sufficient pressure may be created in the discharge-chamber to force a portion of the liquid therein into the measuring-chamber, substantially as shown and described.

FREDK. J. MITCHELL.

Witnesses:

S. G. ME'roALF, ARTHUR F. THOMPSON. 

